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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22740352">I will never leave you, love</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/hollowboness/pseuds/hollowboness'>hollowboness</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>soulmate au [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Witcher (TV), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia Apologizes, Happy Ending, M/M, Soft Boys, Soulmate AU, Soulmate Colour AU, Soulmates, fix it for the last installment in the series, let them be happy, not described in detail though</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 19:01:33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,063</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22740352</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/hollowboness/pseuds/hollowboness</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A monster hunt is simple. A monster hunt is less simple when your soulmate is involved.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>soulmate au [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1633690</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>403</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>I will never leave you, love</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>un-betaed we die like men</p><p>I'm really not great at writing combat so apologies in advance, constructive criticism (and kudos) is appreciated</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Geralt was relieved when he finally entered the small mountainside town, he hoped to get an easy contract, maybe some goblins, or perhaps giant spiders, but of course this town had a hard ass contract.</p><p>He was riding towards the small inn, signaling the stable boy to come and take Roach. He hopped off her saddle and flipped a coin towards the young boy before heading to check out the small area for posts in front of the inn. It was mostly barren, a few posts looking for people skilled in the fixing of leaks or drafts. There was a post calling for a monster hunter, saying to speak to the inn-keeper if they were interested.</p><p>The inn wasn’t empty by any means but it was very quiet. Geralt looked around, taking in his surroundings, and walked towards the bar.</p><p>He was in no way oblivious or impervious to the judgemental glares from townsfolk. He knew his work was appreciated, but he was certainly not. People usually tolerated him as long as they needed to for the job to get done. Of course, everyone except Jaskier. Jaskier was kind and gave his love as freely to the witcher as he did anyone else. Geralt’s heart ached as he remembered what he had said to the bard last time the two were together. Why couldn’t he have taken out his anger in a different way?</p><p>He did his best to push those thoughts out of his mind, trying to focus on getting detail for the contract. It was far too late in the day to start actually hunting down the beast but gathering what information he could was doable. </p><p>He signaled to grab the bartender’s attention. The pudgy, round-faced man approached, twirling his nicely groomed handlebar mustache.</p><p>“You the inn-keeper?”</p><p>“Yes that would be me,” he took a second to look over Geralt, “what can I get you, witcher?” his voice was as jolly but tinged with disgust for the witcher.</p><p>“I’m here to help with the contract, posted out front. You’re looking for a witcher?”</p><p>“Oh! Oh yes. A horned beast, with blue skin and big muscles, has been coming down almost every week or sometimes more and stealing away our people!”</p><p>“Hmm. who’s it been taking?”</p><p>“Oh well, mostly older children or younger adults”</p><p>“Have any come back? Do you know where it’s taking them?” Geralt was becoming increasingly less patient<br/>
“Well, hm, no I don’t think anyone’s come back,” sadness tinged his features briefly before he continued “A few have seen it going south-west deeper into the mountains. Is that all the information you need? I don’t have much more, apologies witcher”</p><p>“That’s fine. Now, I’ll come to you tomorrow with a cost and I expect no less than half upfront. For the time being, I’d like a room.” He said, offering two orrens.</p><p>“Yes of course.” the inn-keeper took the coins and grabbed a key off a small rack behind him, “the key for your room witcher.”</p><p>Geralt took the key, a rusted iron key with the number 4 scratched poorly into the handle, and headed up to his room. He carefully placed his bag beside the small bed. Making sure his swords were in close reach as he pulled his bestiary out of his pack. He flipped through until he landed on the page he suspected was correct.</p><p>An oni. Not easy, but at least he’d get a better paycheck. They were known for kidnapping people, usually children, but older victims weren’t unheard of. The real issue was that oni were also known for torturing their victims in extremely painful and grotesque ways. Geralt hoped he’d be able to save whoever was still alive.</p><p>A silver sword would work, but seeing as oni are known for their immense strength and their nocturnal nature Geralt would have to be hopped up on Swallow and Cat. Great, he was already running lower on elixirs than he’d like, now he’d have to gather ingredients or head to a town with a decent alchemist. Luckily he wasn’t too far from a larger town so it wasn’t of too much concern. He spent a good portion of the night considering what he’d do the next day before he went to sleep.</p><p>***</p><p>The next morning he awoke to the scent of cooking meats and warm bread. He bought himself a large breakfast, realizing just how hungry he was.</p><p>After breakfast, he discussed prices with the inn-keeper. Thankfully the man wasn’t stingy on coin, and considering just how light his coin pouch was getting, Geralt didn’t mind that at all. They settled on a price of 1’500 Ducats. The inn-keeper gave him 750 Ducat as was requested. After this exchange, Geralt decided to go to the mountains. His plan was to scout it out, get a better idea of the terrain he’d be in and if he managed to find the things hideout then even better, he wouldn’t have to blindly stumble about, looking for a cave.</p><p>His search yielded good results, surprisingly fast. He found a cave and based on the blood smears near the entrance (which he quickly identified as both fresh and human), this is probably where the oni was.</p><p>He slowly drew his sword, ready to attack whatever might dwell within this cave but he quickly realized that the cave was empty. Clearly, the oni, or whatever lived in this cave, wasn’t there and if it had taken any victims recently, as the blood suggested, it was good at hiding them. The cave smelled of blood and he could smell the distinct smell of fear which meant something, likely human was nearby but for whatever reason, he couldn’t seem to pinpoint it. It was bothering him but he decided he would just camp out hidden near the mouth of the cave, awaiting the onis return.</p><p>***</p><p>He sat for hours awaiting the beats return. His legs were beginning to go numb and he’d cleaned his sword at least a dozen times and checked that all his elixirs were in order at least twice as many times.</p><p>Dark came quicker than was expected, so Geralt drank a Cat as the sun set. That was a mistake, and one he never seemed to learn from. The slivers of fading light were still too bright for his now enhanced eyes but he simply shielded his eyes with his hands.</p><p>***</p><p>Geralt heard it approaching before he saw it. Heavy thudding footsteps.</p><p>As it came into his field of view, he cringed. It was bigger than he thought. A hulking mass of muscle, wrapped in splotchy, grey-blue skin. It was significantly taller than him and would be hard to fight but he knew he had to. Its face was ugly, with 2 large tusks protruding from its lower jaw, and 2 horns curved up and out from above its brow bone. It had stringy black hair and a small girl, no older than 16, was unconscious and thrown over its shoulder. It was naked aside from the skin of what was probably a lynx covering its groin.</p><p>Geralt immediately drew his sword and upon seeing the massive metal club the oni carried he quickly drank a Swallow. He crept behind the oni, following it inside the cave. All sorts of things littered the floor, bones, piles of rotting meat, and what looked like skin were everywhere, and Geralt was glad he could see well enough to avoid the disgusting remains.</p><p>His mind quickly ran through his option for how to fight this, he had the advantage of being hidden and could easily strike a weak spot, so he did that.</p><p>He slashed at it’s left Achilles Tendon, as that was an easy weak spot on almost all humanoids. Sure enough, it toppled to the floor, onto its knees. It let out an angry roar, whipping its ugly head around to see its attacker. It saw Geralt out of the corner of its eye and its clawed hand reached out for him.</p><p>He ducked beneath the hand and slashed at its back as he ran around behind it. Its other hand reached out faster than he could react and grabbed him, Its disgusting fingers wrapping around his arm and shoulder, dragging him in front of it.</p><p>The girl lay forgotten beside the monster and Geralt saw nearby, a pile of others. He made a mental note to check which were still alive later. Now though, he had to try and get out of the beasts grasp.</p><p>He slashed his sword wildly, slashing at its wrist and arm until it finally dropped him. He could feel a cut on his shoulder and the dull pain of what would become a bruise on his rips but ignored it.</p><p>He ran behind it again, this time grabbing onto it’s long, oily hair and using that to jump up onto its shoulders. He drew his sword across the tender flesh of its neck, slitting its carotid artery. He jumped back to the ground and left it to bleed out.</p><p>***</p><p>The first thing he did was check on the girl it carried in, making sure she was ok. She had no visible injuries and her pulse was steady, so he let her be. Next, he walked over to the small pile of other victims. Upon closer inspection, there seemed to be only 3. A woman who looked to be in her late 20s or early 30s, a young boy, probably about 15, and a man who looked to be in his mid or late 20s.</p><p>It took Geralt a second but he quickly realized, this man was Jaskier. Frantically, he checked the other victims’ pulses, just for long enough to see that they were there before promptly pulling Jaskier away from the other two, and propping him up against a relatively clean patch of the wall of the cave. He checked the bard’s pulse, and when he felt the faint beat against his thumbs he thanked all the gods. He quickly tried to wake Jaskier while checking him over for injuries. Thankfully the bard quickly woke up, however, he was injured. He had a broken leg.</p><p>There was a haze in the bard’s eyes as he confusedly looked around. He immediately looked down at his leg and the acrid smell of panic filled Geralt’s nostrils.</p><p>“Oh, oh my god…” the bard gagged and looked away from his leg, bent at an unnatural angle</p><p>Geralt put a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to ground the bard, and he immediately looked up, locking eyes with the witcher.</p><p>“It’s ok-” Geralt began.</p><p>“No! No, it is not! My, my leg is broken, and I don’t know where I am, nor do I know why you’re here, and I’m still mad at you!” his voice was filled with panic and an array of other emotions.</p><p>“Panic won’t do any good, bard. You’re in a cave outside the town Lenrow, and I’m here because this was a monster’s cave. We can deal with the being mad later, you and the other victims need to be brought to a healer.”</p><p>He walked away to wake the other victims and tell them essentially the same thing he told his bard. The young boy had unfortunately died. Geralt couldn’t see why but he was more focused on keeping Jaskier and the two women safe. The younger girl was seemingly fine, and the woman had cuts on her back and sides but could walk.</p><p>Geralt told everyone to look away as he sliced the onis head off as evidence but from the sounds of gagging and retching when blood gushed from the dead body, it was clear that they didn’t. He hadn’t bothered to get Roach so he would have to carry the head back to town.</p><p>It was a bit of a feat, to navigate back to the town. Jaskier insisted that Geralt help him walk, so Geralt wrapped his arm around the bard’s lithe waist as Jaskier put his arm around Geralt’s shoulder. His other hand was full with the monster's head. He didn’t like having both hands full, nor did he like the bard being so close. He needed to be able to easily grab his sword and he needed time to process finding Jaskier and think about what to say. However, he let the bard stay.</p><p>***</p><p>He got into the town and got the girls’ names before letting them leave. Luckily (or unluckily, depending on who you ask) the younger girl knew the poor boy who had died. The two girls walked off to their houses, and Geralt walked to the inn, Jaskier still leaning on him, monster head still in hand.</p><p>He shoved the door of the inn open with his shoulder and ignored the disgusted and disturbed stares from patrons. He called for the inn-keeper as he set Jaskier down at a table and placed the head down on the bar. Though it had mostly stopped bleeding there was still an upsetting squelch as it hit the wood.</p><p>The inn-keeper walked over, and upon seeing the severed head, averted his eyes.</p><p>“Get that thing away! Take it off my bar, throw it outside!” he exclaimed</p><p>“I wanted to make sure you knew I got the job done.” Geralt shrugged. </p><p>“Well, get rid of it!”</p><p>Geralt shrugged again  “I will, I just thought you should know, there were 4 people that it had kidnapped. One of them, his name was Zashed something or other. I left his body there.”</p><p>The inn-keepers face paled, “Oh.. oh. Thank you I suppose, and the rest of your payment,” he began rummaging around behind the bar before pulling out a hefty sack of coin and handing it to Geralt.</p><p>***</p><p>Geralt had brought Jaskier up to his room. He didn’t know what to do with the bard but this late at night, there would be no healers available, and if they wanted proper healing they’d have to go to a bigger town anyways. The bard was being oddly quiet, and tension filled the air as the two sat in the room, Jaskier on the only bed, Geralt opposite him on the floor.</p><p>Geralt finally broke the silence “Jaskier you’re being very quiet,”</p><p>The bard scoffed at this “Oh well excuse me for not talking, I’ve been through quite a lot! First I was kidnapped, then I was tortured by this disgusting horned beast, and THEN the one person I wanted to see least showed up!”</p><p>Geralt was taken aback by this outburst, it wasn’t often that Jaskier got this angry, and never at Geralt, he opened and closed his mouth a few times before speaking, struggling to find his words.</p><p>“Why am I the person you want to see the least?” Deep down he knew, and he should’ve said something else but he couldn’t.</p><p>The bard laughed at this, a manic, angry laugh, “Wow, wow! I didn’t think you were dumb but I suppose you really are huh?” Tears were streaming down his face but if he noticed he didn’t do anything about it, “I would think you feel the same about me after all, you did say that if life could give you one blessing it would be to get rid of me.”</p><p>Hearing it said out loud, hearing his words thrown back at him, it hurt. He realized just how much it must’ve hurt the bard. When he yelled at the bard, all those months ago, he was angry. He said what he did with the intention to hurt the bard. He regretted it now. Jaskier was so much more sensitive than him, and if hearing those words with the same spite he had used hurt, then how much did it hurt Jaskier to hear them?</p><p>“I-” He was never good with words, and now was no different, “I’m sorry, Jaskier. I didn’t, I… I wasn’t thinking straight when I said that.” He walked over to where the bard was and kneeled in front of him, “please forgive me, Jaskier.”</p><p>The bard laughed quietly and sadly, he looked down and wiped the tears that steadily streamed down his face</p><p>“You big oaf. You can’t just say sorry and expect me to forgive you.” the anger had dissipated from his voice, he never did stay angry, “you need to mean it Geralt.”</p><p>Geralt moved so he could look Jaskier in the eyes, and (barely) resisted the urge to gently wipe the tears from his face, “I’m sorry, Jaskier. I- I regret what I said, and I hope you’ll forgive me.”</p><p>Jaskier wiped tears from his face as he looked into Geralt’s inhuman eyes, “I forgive you.”</p><p>***</p><p>Geralt let Jaskier have the bed. He slept on the floor, he felt like he deserved after all.</p><p>The next morning, Geraly brought breakfast up to Jaskier and asked the inn-keeper where he could find a decent healer.</p><p>He brought the local healer up to his room and paid for whatever would help the bard heal. Jaskier’s leg was set in a makeshift splint cast type thing, and they were given a salve that was supposed to help as well as a few small capsules of different herbs to help with any severe pain.</p><p>***</p><p>After two days of letting Jaskier leg heal, Geralt woke up early one morning and began to pack his belongings. Apparently the bard was a light sleeper because he woke up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes before turning to Geralt.</p><p>“Where’re you going?” he mumbled, running a hand through his bedhead.</p><p>“Shit.” He turned to face the bard “... I was planning on… leaving,” He felt guilty saying it out loud.</p><p>“You, you were gonna leave me?” The bard sounded hurt</p><p>“Well, your leg, I,” he stumbled for the words, “I didn’t want to hurt you again.”</p><p>“You know, leaving me would hurt me just as much,” a blush coloured his features and he looked down, fiddling with the edge of his blanket.</p><p>“Oh” was all Geralt could muster</p><p>***</p><p>Geralt helped Jaskier out of bed and down the stairs. He let Jaskier ride roach as he walked beside them. It was a good few days to the next town and every single day, Jaskier woke, afraid that Geralt had left him, and every single day, Geralt sat down beside the bard and gently promised that he would never leave.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Geralt is still refusing to acknowledge their soul-bond, and Jaskier still thinks it one-sided (just a small reminder)</p><p>also, feel free to come and yell at me on Tumblr about this or a variety of other things https://hollow-boness.tumblr.com/</p></blockquote></div></div>
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